Major changes are coming to the Department of Housing and Urban Development's reverse mortgage loan program as the agency seeks to shore up its finances and better protect seniors. The Home Equity Conversion Mortgage Program's two products, the standard and saver options, are being consolidated into one program with tighter restrictions and a bigger education component. The changes are the result of reforms in the Reverse Mortgage Stabilization Act of 2013, passed by Congress and signed last month by President Barack Obama.

Hispanic homebuyers have made strides, but Asians and African-Americans looking to purchase a home still are told about or shown far fewer homes than are equally qualified white consumers, a national study has determined. Hispanic renters, however, face the same challenges as other minority groups in finding apartments, according to the report, issued Tuesday by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Urban Institute. The $9 million study, based on research in 28 metropolitan areas including the Chicago area, concluded that blatant "door slamming" forms of discrimination are on the decline but that the discrimination that does exist is harder to detect, and as a result, more difficult to remedy.

Hispanic homebuyers have made strides in their access to housing but Asian- and African-American buyers looking to purchase a home still are told about or shown far fewer homes than equally qualified white consumers, a new national study has determined. However, Hispanic renters face the same challenges as other minority groups in finding apartments, according to the report issued Tuesday by the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Urban Institute. The $9 million study, based on research in 28 metropolitan areas, including the Chicago area, concluded that blatant forms of discrimination are on the decline but that the discrimination that does exist is harder to detect, and as a result, correct.

By Hilary Russ and Edward Krudy NEW YORK, May 5 (Reuters) - Joseph Szczesny's modest Staten Island home was inundated when Superstorm Sandy slammed into the U.S. East Coast in October. Now six months later, the 63-year-old bridge repairman and his fiance are all but alone in their Oakwood Beach neighborhood on the borough's flood-prone Atlantic seafront. And they have had enough. "If you stay, you're rolling the dice," Szczesny said, over coffee and a cigarette at his tidy kitchen's table in late March.

The nation's fair-housing rules became clearer this month when the Department of Housing and Urban Development finalized a rule that it hopes makes it easier to determine whether a housing practice is discriminatory. The formal adoption of uniform standards for the Fair Housing Act's so-called disparate impact provisions codifies a theory that was in place - that a housing policy can be discriminatory if it applies to everyone but leads to discrimination, regardless of whether it was intentional.

Overview -- We are assigning our 'B' issue-level rating, and '3' recovery rating, to HudBay Minerals Inc.'s proposed US$400 million senior unsecured notes. -- We understand that proceeds from the issuance will be used to fund general corporate purposes including outlays for several of the company's larger development projects. HudBay is developing several projects including the Lalor mine in Manitoba and the Constancia mine in Peru. -- The 'B' long-term corporate credit rating on Hudbay is unchanged.